Testing Burtons formula

Maddison Bunny Allin

• I looked at five different horror films and highlighted the plot synopsis and key words keeping in mind burtons theory.

THE PURGE: AnarchyPLOT SYNOPSIS:

KEY WORDS:

Key:

There are a lot of weapons/shootings/death involved and there are themes of death, survival and deception which are common in horror films.The plot synopsis shows that the characters are in an isolated situation.

AS ABOVE SO BELOW

PLOT SUMMARY:

KEY WORDS:

KEY:

There are keywords about death and harming people including ‘death of brother’ ‘suicide’ and ‘head bashed in’ and there are also themes of loss and guilt. The plot synopsis gives an outline that they put themselves in an isolated situation.

THE CONJURINGPLOT SYNOPSIS:

KEY WORDS:

KEY:

There are a lot of keywords to do withGhosts and haunting which tells us it Is a fairly unrealistic film to do with sacrifice.There are themes of truth, sacrifice and evil Showing that this is a horror film.

SINISTERPLOT SYNOPSIS:

KEY WORDS:

KEY:

There are a lot of key words to do with death and there are lots to do with weapons. There is also themes to do with fear, murder and evil which are common to the genre of Horror. The plot synopsis tells you about a serial killer and a murder.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMERPLOT SYNOPSIS:

KEY WORDS:

KEY:There are a lot of keywords about being killed/stabbed and the plot synopsis explain four teenagers killing someone and trying to cover it up and then getting haunted.

OBSERVATIONS MADE

• In looking at conventional elements there are a number of commonalities for the horror genre. One of the observations that I have made is that horror films tend to all have a similar setting which is isolated for example, in the purge, there is no one there to help therefore they have no hope of being saved.

• Another observation that I have made is that the stock characters are usually related to each other in some way such as in I know what you did last summer they are a group of teenagers who represent a mixture of negative representations of society which shows that they are vulnerable this applies mainly to slasher horror.

• There is also usually a specific type of character in each film. This usually includes either a group or an individual person. This is represented in I know what you did last summer which is about a group of teenagers.

• I have made the observation that there is usually either some sort of paranormal activity going on within the movie or there is a killer with a weapon. This is a commonality for the horror genre as without these things, there wouldn’t really be an element of horror.

All of these things are used in horror/slasher films to make the audience believe that the victims in the film are not going to get out alive and are going to get killed.